Five Things Rachel Berry Never Asked For
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: Snapshots of Quinn and Rachel's life together.


**Five Things Rachel Berry Never Asked For**

She hadn't asked for this. She said she wanted something romantic—that was all. But apparently her girlfriend had heard "Quinn, I'd like to believe in magic again, 'kay thanks." She stared straight up at the ceiling, trying to catch her breath.

"Doing okay, baby?" Quinn asked, drawing circles on Rachel's stomach with a rose petal.

"Holy shit." She could feel Quinn smirking into her shoulder. "Hey…you're not allowed to be smug right now."

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure making my girlfriend cry tears of happiness at how beautiful our lakeside dinner was, plus giving her four earth-shattering orgasms, is a damn good reason to be smug."

"Earth-shattering? Someone's sure of herself."

"Oh, were they not? Sorry, I'm obviously slacking. I'll try again."

"No you won't. Go to sleep."

* * *

She hadn't asked for this. "What is that, Lucy Quinn Fabray?"

"A puppy?" Quinn said, giving her a winning smile.

"Quinn!"

"I know, we said no pets…but he was the only one left and he didn't cost that much and he's so fucking cute…."

Rachel glared at her.

"Please don't make me take him back," Quinn pouted.

"Fine," Rachel huffed. "I'll go rework our budget for vet visits and dog food…."

Quinn bounced over to her and handed her the dog. "I'll do it," she said, kissing Rachel. "We need to name him."

"Fiyero?"

"Like in Wicked?" Quinn asked. Then she smiled. "I like it."

Rachel smiled and carried the dog into the living room. He was kind of cute.

* * *

She hadn't asked for this. She still wasn't sure where they'd gone wrong. Where they'd broken down…. Possibly it was a lot of little things along the way. Maybe she'd done something so wrong that Quinn couldn't even talk to her about it. Either way, she was working on her third day of sitting on the couch, crying into a carton of Ben & Jerry's Oh My Apple Pie ice cream and watching bad network television.

Quinn had left. They'd been arguing more and more, and one day Rachel got back from an audition and the blonde had been gone. She'd gotten a text that night that said Quinn was at Santana's house and needed some space. She hadn't seen her since.

Another sob escaped her. She couldn't stop, because somewhere inside her she knew that she couldn't fix this. That Quinn had to come back, and if she went to her, she'd only push the blonde away more. So she waited.

She fucking hated waiting.

Her phone rang, but she let it go to voicemail. She didn't want to talk to anyone. Snuggling down on the couch, she closed her eyes and willed her headache to go away. She must've dosed off, because when she opened them again there were a few different things that had changed. Judge Judy had ended and Judge Mathis was on. The food cartons had all been thrown away. And Quinn was sitting on the floor next to the couch.

"I'm so sorry," the blonde said.

"What happened?"

"I got scared. We'd been fighting so much…I was afraid I'd mess something up or say something so bad that you wouldn't be able to forgive me this time. Santana's been beating sense into me for the past three days though."

"That's kind of her job."

"Yeah."

They were quiet for a long moment. Quinn ran her fingers through Rachel's hair as the other girl took a second to fully wake up.

"Are you coming home?" Rachel asked finally.

"If that's okay."

Rachel sat up and hugged her. "Don't leave me."

"Never again."

* * *

She hadn't asked for this. When did kids' birthday parties get so complicated?

"What do you need, baby?" Quinn asked.

"Idina's teacher just sent home a note. She says that all of the kids have to be invited to the party."

"Right…Britt and Santana ran into that with Matteo's birthday party. It's to keep kids from feeling left out or something."

"Except for the fact that we have twins, so that's two classes we'd have to invite and 30 kids we'd have to take to Chuck E. Cheese."

"Just call the teacher and explain. We're not having a party, we just told the kids they could bring their best friend along on family day."

"They're not allowed to have 'best friends' either."

"The fuck?" Quinn said, taking the letter from Rachel. "This shit's getting ridiculous. I'm calling the school."

"Thanks…I'm sure they're tired of hearing my voice after the whole 'You can't have two moms' incident with Blaine-Christopher."

Quinn leaned over the counter and kissed her. "I'm on it. Can you go get them moving? We have to be at dinner with Blaine and Dave in two hours."

"No problem." Rachel looked back as Quinn dialed the school's number and smiled.

* * *

She hadn't asked for this. She didn't want this. She looked around at all the machines Quinn was hooked to, at her son and daughters, at Brittany and Santana. This wasn't right. Brittany came over and took her hand as Torrance, Idina and Blaine-Christopher talked quietly to Quinn. Finally, they took a step back from the bed after kissing their mother. Blaine-Christopher put his arms around his sisters' shoulders.

"I'm taking them to Uncle Dave's house," he said quietly.

"I'll drive you," Brittany said. She leaned over and kissed Quinn's forehead. "I love you, Q."

"Love you too, Brittany. Look after them?"

"I will." Brittany followed the teenagers out, wiping away her tears.

"Santana?" Quinn said weakly.

"What's up, Q?" Santana asked, smiling. She walked over and took her best friend's hand.

"Take care of Rachel," Quinn whispered.

"You know it, Blondie. I love you."

"I love you too. Give me a minute with her?"

Santana nodded, gave Quinn a kiss on the cheek and hugged Rachel. "I'll be right outside."

Rachel just nodded as she walked forward to Quinn's bed. "I love you. So much."

"I love you too. High school seems a million years ago, doesn't it." She managed a smile as Rachel nodded. "Want to know what my favorite memory was?"

"What?"

"When Finn and I broke up. He told me that you'd picked out my corsage for prom that year," she chuckled. It sounded more like a wheeze. "Something clicked at that moment. So when graduation rolled around, and both of us were single, I knew I had to do something. That's why your graduation present was a Metro North pass."

"You schemer," Rachel said, smiling.

Quinn smiled back, then sobered. "I know I said I'd never leave you again, but I don't have a choice this time."

Rachel shut her eyes tightly, willing herself not to break down yet.

"Hey," Quinn whispered. "Look at me. You're going to be okay. You have Santana, and Brittany, and Dave and Blaine. You have our kids. Promise me something?"

"What?" Rachel said, through tears.

"If you find someone who's good for you…let them love you."

"You're a hard act to follow, Quinn," Rachel told her, shaking her head. "I can't—"

"Promise me."

Rachel looked down at her and swallowed. Then she nodded. "I promise." She leaned down and kissed her.

"Thank you," Quinn said. "Stay with me?"

Rachel nodded.

Santana came in a few minutes later when she heard Rachel sobbing. "Come on, baby girl."

Rachel let Santana hold her. She hadn't asked for this.

She hadn't asked for Quinn to die.


End file.
